May 9, 2000
Web posted at: 1:11 p.m. EST (1711 GMT)

Fatboy Slim stays busy pumping the fun beat back into clubbing

(CNN) -- Fatboy Slim is one of Britain's most popular exports, a DJ whose whimsical, fun-loving exterior masks a serious musician.

The DJ, whose real name is Norman Cook, mixes the songs of his youth with the tunes of today, creating a bouncy sort of nostalgia.

"What I do is kind of a rock, rap, reggae, house, Latin and pop all mixed in one great kind of cauldron," said Cook, 32. "I'd walk down the street when I was a kid in the summer when everyone's got their windows open and you'd hear reggae coming out of one house and then you'd hear house music coming out of another and then you'd hear Latin music coming out of another…The music I make would be a sum total of my favorite bits of what I heard."

Cook spent 13 years in the music industry before becoming a DJ, notably playing bass for the Housemartins, a late '80s alternative pop band. After two years in the group, Cook split off to join a new dance scene, one driven by electronica-infused house music. But that was not enough; Cook was drawn to the DJ scene.

"I just got a bit more eclectic," he told WorldBeat. "The idea was to put the fun back in clubbing. Everyone was kind of taking it a bit too seriously. Why not make it more like a party at a nightclub?"

	AUDIO
"Gangster Tripping" 96K MP3 or 160K WAV sound "The Rockefeller Skank" 128K MP3 or 224K WAV sound (Sound courtesy Astralwerks/Sony International)
	ALSO
Biography: Fatboy Slim
	MESSAGE BOARD
Will the DJing wave take over music as we know it? Go to the boards

Cook earned a high-profile job as a Friday-night DJ at the Big Beat Boutique, a world-renowned club in Brighton, England. The exposure he gained there, coupled with his music experience and connections, landed Cook a record deal.

Cook released "Better Living Through Chemistry" in 1996. The album's 1998 follow, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby," earned two Grammy nominations and spawned the widely played singles "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Praise You."

His latest albums, "Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook Collection" and "On the Floor at the Boutique" return to his live DJ sessions. Cook performs in clubs when he's not busy touring, producing or remixing other artists or winning awards.

"I like the art of mixing records," he said. "I'd never know what I was going to play until I got there and looked at the audience. It depends on my mood that night and the audience's mood.

"Once it gets going, it's a real two-way thing," he said. "They're egging me on. It's communication. ... We're having a laugh."